Lighthouse Christian's Trey Bess carries the football to the one yard line after catching a pass during a game against the Central Bull Dogs at Central on Friday, Aug. 25, 2017.
Nathan Papes/News-Leader

Central High had their first win since 2015 in their sights, but they just couldn’t quite pull it off.

Lighthouse Christian defeated Central 38-16 in a Week 2 showdown Friday night in a game that was closer than the final score indicated.

The Bulldogs were within four points at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but a late Chargers surge was too much to handle.

The game started out sloppy as the teams exchanged punts and fumbles throughout the first quarter.

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Central High School's Head Coach Sean Nevills before the start of a game against Lighthouse Christian at Central on Friday, Aug. 25, 2017.(Photo: Nathan Papes/News-Leader)

After establishing the screen pass, Lighthouse Christian quarterback Braeden Mathews let a 51-yard pass fly for his receiver to be brought down at the one.

Mathews punched in one of his two rushing touchdowns on the following play.

Central running back Montrey White broke open for a 61-yard rushing touchdown.

Central only trailed 12-8 with 7:54 left in the third.

With the possibility of being upset, Lighthouse Christian stepped it up in the fourth quarter.

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Lighthouse Christian's Trey Bess carries the football to the one yard line after catching a pass during a game against the Central Bull Dogs at Central on Friday, Aug. 25, 2017.(Photo: Nathan Papes/News-Leader)

Mathews found wide receiver Trey Bess wide open down the middle of the field for a 30-yard touchdown pass.

The Chargers failed to make the two-point conversion, but they took an 18-8 lead with 10:04 left in the game.

Central had their chances throughout the night to capitalize. Receivers were overthrown on multiple occasions, and Central couldn’t score when they had the ball inside the red zone a few times throughout the night.

Lighthouse Christian added on with a second wide-open Mathews pass to Bess with 6:48 left in the game. The Chargers went on to recover an onside kick right after with a 26-8 lead.